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James Jay Edwards’ Top Ten Fringe(ish) Horror Movies of 2019

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Hey there, it’s your friendly neighborhood fringe horror guy back with another year-end list that will either intrigue or anger you.  The choice is yours.  Because my choices for best horror-ish movies have all been made.

Remember, these are fringe horror movies.  Although this year’s list includes more “traditional” horror than it usually does, every movie here has been accused of “not being horror” by someone, most likely in the comments section of the internet.  Of course, I’ve also seen It Chapter 2 accused of not being a horror movie in these comments sections, and it literally has a shape-shifting murderous clown, so maybe I really do know as little as people say I do.

So, without further ado, here are my top ten fringe(ish) horror movies of 2019.

 

James Jay Edwards Top Ten 2019

Knives Out (2019), courtesy Lionsgate.

10. Knives Out

The body count in Knives Out may be low (it’s one), but it’s a brilliant twist-a-minute tribute to Agatha Christie that will make even the most ardent haters of The Last Jedi forgive writer/director Rian Johnson.  Basically, the patriarch of a family turns up dead, and an enigmatic private detective (played by Daniel Craig) has to sort through a mansion full of suspects.  Whodunnit indeed.

 

James Jay Edwards Top Ten 2019

Parasite (2019), courtesy Neon.

9. Parasite

Parasite is another twisty and turny one that ends as a completely different movie than it started.  This Bong Joon-ho joint is about a family of schemers who infiltrates a rich household by posing as skilled and talented workers.  But, of course, there’s more to the story than that.  Much more.

 

James Jay Edwards Top Ten 2019

Bliss (2019), courtesy Dark Sky Films.

8. Bliss

This one is more of a pure horror flick, possibly the most so on this list.  Bliss is about an artist who is under the gun as she faces the terrible combination of a creative block and a looming deadline.  She turns to drugs to spark her inspiration, but the drugs she gets are not the normal, run-of-the-mill hallucinogens.

 

James Jay Edwards Top Ten 2019

Brightburn (2019), courtesy Sony Pictures Releasing.

7. Brightburn

If you’ve ever wondered what would have happened if Superman was evil, Brightburn is for you.  It’s basically the origin story of the Man of Steel – a boy comes crashing down from the stars and is raised by a midwestern couple.  But this alien child doesn’t stand for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.  He’s a naughty little camper.

 

Joker (2019), courtesy Warner Bros.

6. Joker

Ah, yes.  Joker.  This is ostensibly an origin story for the most notorious villain in pop culture history (at least until Darth Vader came along).  It steers away from the comics and makes up a lot of the story in places, but since the Joker has always been a famously unreliable narrator (“wanna know how I got these scars?”), we’re going to allow it.  This may be the most important film of the year on a social level, and that’s in a year that includes Parasite.

 

Doctor Sleep (2019), courtesy Warner Bros.

5. Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep is the long overdue cinematic adaptation of Stephen King’s long overdue sequel to The Shining.  Director Mike Flanagan does the impossible by bridging the gap between the story telling of King and the visual aesthetic of the 1980 Stanley Kubrick original.  Great fun for admirers of either camp, or especially, of both.

 

The Death of Dick Long (2019), courtesy A24.

4. The Death of Dick Long

Probably the least known movie on this list.  Try to go into The Death of Dick Long with as little prior knowledge as possible.  If you need a brief synopsis, it’s about a band whose drummer, one Richard Long, winds up dead after a night of partying.  His pals spend the next day trying to cover up the cause.  This one is more Coen Brothers than traditional horror, but it’s a shocker.

 

Greta (2019), courtesy Focus Features.

3. Greta

What do you get when you cast a bona-fide Oscar caliber actress to play across from two modern scream queens?  You get Greta, that’s what.  Elle’s Isabelle Huppert has a devilishly delicious time villainizing Carrie’s Chloë Grace Moretz and It Follows’s Maika Monroe in this stalkery slasher.  Along with Ma and The Intruder, this was one of three respected-thespians-tormenting-innocents movies this year, but it’s easily the best of the bunch.

 

Us (2019), courtesy Universal Pictures.

2. Us

Jordan Peele’s Get Out established the filmmaker as one to watch in the horror world, and Us just confirms that notion.  The movie is about a family who goes takes a trip to their vacation home, and are the victims of a home invasion.  The kicker is that the invaders are carbon copies of themselves.  And it just gets weirder and more disturbing from there.  Not quite the social message that Get Out is, but it’s close.

 

Midsommar (2019), courtesy A24.

1. Midsommar

And speaking of establishing a reputation as a master of horror…Ari Aster’s Hereditary was one of last year’s best movies, and Midsommar shows the writer/director picking up right where he left off.  Midsommar is about a group of Americans that travels to Sweden for a cultural festival, and things go very wrong.  Believe it or not, the three-hour director’s cut is better than the two-and-a-half hour theatrical – and that’s coming from a guy who lives for 80 minute slashers.  Midsommar is a brutal treatise on grief and mourning, all wrapped up in a neat little condemnation of toxic relationships.  And it’s the best movie of the year.

 

For more year-end best-of lists, check here.

 

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Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel

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Maybe it’s because The Exorcist just celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year, or maybe it’s because aging Academy Award-winning actors aren’t too proud to take on obscure roles, but Russell Crowe is visiting the Devil once again in yet another possession film. And it’s not related to his last one, The Pope’s Exorcist.

According to Collider, the film titled The Exorcism was originally going to be released under the name The Georgetown Project. Rights for its North American release were once in the hands of Miramax but then went to Vertical Entertainment. It will release on June 7 in theaters then head over to Shudder for subscribers.

Crowe will also star in this year’s upcoming Kraven the Hunter which is set to drop in theaters on August 30.

As for The Exorcism, Collider provides us with what it’s about:

“The film centers around actor Anthony Miller (Crowe), whose troubles come to the forefront as he shoots a supernatural horror movie. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) has to figure out whether he’s lapsing into his past addictions, or if something even more horrific is occurring. “

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New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie

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Deadpool & Wolverine might be the buddy movie of the decade. The two heterodox superheroes are back in the latest trailer for the summer blockbuster, this time with more f-bombs than a gangster film.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Movie Trailer

This time the focus is on Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman. The adamantium-infused X-Man is having a bit of a pity party when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) arrives on the scene who then tries to convince him to team up for selfish reasons. The result is a profanity-filled trailer with a Strange surprise at the end.

Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It comes out on July 26. Here is the latest trailer, and we suggest if you are at work and your space isn’t private, you might want to put in headphones.

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Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film

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The Blair Witch Project Cast

Jason Blum is planning to reboot The Blair Witch Project for the second time. That’s a fairly large task considering none of the reboots or sequels have managed to capture the magic of the 1999 film that brought found footage into the mainstream.

This idea has not been lost on the original Blair Witch cast, who has recently reached out to Lionsgate to ask for what they feel is fair compensation for their role in the pivotal film. Lionsgate gained access to The Blair Witch Project in 2003 when they purchased Artisan Entertainment.

Blair witch
The Blair Witch Project Cast

However, Artisan Entertainment was an independent studio before its purchase, meaning the actors were not part of SAG-AFTRA. As a result, the cast are not entitled to the same residuals from the project as actors in other major films. The cast doesn’t feel that the studio should be able to continue to profit off of their hard work and likenesses without fair compensation.

Their most recent request asks for “meaningful consultation on any future ‘Blair Witch’ reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc., in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”

The blair witch project

At this time, Lionsgate has not offered any comment about this issue.

The full statement made by the cast can be found below.

OUR ASKS OF LIONSGATE (From Heather, Michael & Josh, stars of “The Blair Witch Project”):

1. Retroactive + future residual payments to Heather, Michael and Josh for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.

2. Meaningful consultation on any future Blair Witch reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc…, in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.

Note: Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective. Neither of these films were made with significant creative input from the original team. As the insiders who created the Blair Witch and have been listening to what fans love & want for 25 years, we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far un-utilized secret-weapon!

3. “The Blair Witch Grant”: A 60k grant (the budget of our original movie), paid out yearly by Lionsgate, to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making theirfirst feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence Lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.

A PUBLIC STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTORS & PRODUCERS OF “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”:

As we near the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, our pride in the storyworld we created and the film we produced is reaffirmed by the recent announcement of a reboot by horror icons Jason Blum and James Wan.

While we, the original filmmakers, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize the intellectual property as it sees fit, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast — Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Mike Williams. As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project. Their unique contributions not only defined the film’s authenticity but continue to resonate with audiences around the world.

We celebrate our film’s legacy, and equally, we believe the actors deserve to be celebrated for their enduring association with the franchise.

Sincerely, Eduardo Sanchez, Dan Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie, and Michael Monello

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